Innovation Abstracts

Innovation Abstracts, NISOD’s flagship teaching strategies publication, provides an excellent opportunity for community and technical college educators to learn about and share best ideas about programs, projects, and strategies that improve students’ higher education experiences.

Volume XXXIX, No. 20 | September 21, 2017 As I Watch My Students Leave As I watch students leave my classroom after their final exam, it is with sadness that I realize I will never see many of them again. I have been an educator for 26 years, including as a middle [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 18 | September 7, 2017 Capitalizing on Social Presence in Online Course Design: Five Strategies That Work How can we create a more effective, efficient online-course experience for students and instructors? One thing we know: social presence matters. Social presence, briefly defined as the connectedness between and among students [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 17 | August 31, 2017 Using Icebreakers to Build Community It’s the first day of class, and students nervously find their seats. They may or may not know anyone in the class. Tension of the unknown is palpable. Students are unsure what to expect: What will this course be [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 16 | May 4, 2017 Teaching Community College Students the Soft Skills Demanded by Employers Many of us in community colleges work with employers and students. Therefore, we seek to understand what employers need in future employees, then we prepare students to fill those roles. This process is relatively straight [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 15 | April 27, 2017 Raise Your Hand if You Have Questions In traditional face-to-face classes, it’s easy to know when students have questions. Typically, we don’t even need to wait for students to raise their hands because we see a sea of blank stares and bewildered faces. In online [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 13 | April 13, 2017 Technology in the Classroom? Instructional Technology Certification Program Increases Engagement When I began teaching, which was initially in K-12, my school was not rich in resources. More times than not, I had to purchase copies of handouts for my English classes, and occasionally also purchase [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 12 | April 6, 2017 Let Your Voice Be Heard: Using Social Media to Encourage Social Action Today’s students demand that their learning be dynamic, personal, and relevant. In an effort to help my first-year students understand that their course reading, writing, and overall content have impacts beyond the classroom, [...]

Volume XXXIX, No. 11 | March 30, 2017 Meeting Students’ Needs Through Learning Styles Think back to a class that you enjoyed or during which you learned the most. Was it interactive or lecture-based? Was the teacher the focus of the class, or did the teacher engage students in the lesson? Did the teacher [...]

ABOUT NISOD

For community and technical colleges that want to make the most of their professional development dollars, NISOD provides budget-friendly, high-quality, and faculty-focused programs and resources. For nearly 40 years, NISOD’s customer-focused approach has helped align our wide array of benefits with the needs of our members, which explains why the American Association of Community Colleges named NISOD, “The country’s leading provider of professional development for community college faculty, staff, and administrators.”